Phillips Co-Authors Paper in Science, July 14, 2006

by George Zamora

SOCORRO, N.M., July 14, 2006 – New Mexico Tech hydrology professor Fred M. Phillips is the co-author of a research paper published in a recent issue of the prestigious journal Science.

Phillips was one of nine co-authors of the research paper, titled “Near-Synchronous Interhemispheric Termination of the Last Glacial Maximum in Mid-Latitudes,” which studies isotopic records from polar ice cores as markers of the globally asynchronous warming at the end of the last glaciation during the late Quaternary time.

Phillips, who has been on the New Mexico Tech faculty for more than 25 years, has been the past recipient of numerous national and international awards for his research contributions made to the scientific fields of hydrogeology, geomorphology, and Quaternary geology, which covers the last 1.7 million years of Earth’s geologic history.

Most of Phillips’ diverse research in the geosciences stems from a technique he pioneered of using measured ratios of radioactive isotopes of chlorine formed by cosmic-ray reactions in rocks and other landforms to more accurately date geological events of the past million years, such as earthquakes, landslides, and glaciers.